17.08.2016Street Parade hailed a great success

Some 900,000 revellers enjoyed themselves in the heat of Saturday at the city’s annual Street Parade, which took place for the 25th time this year. Despite a number of incidents of crime, the organisers hailed the event, the largest techno parade in the world, as a great success.

It was initially announced that some 50 arrests had been made. However, speaking on Monday afternoon, Marco Cortesi of the City Police corrected this figure and said that as many as 67 people had been arrested, the highest number ever detained at the event.

According to this article in the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper, it was only on the following Sunday or Monday that some victims reported to the police that they had been stabbed after first taking themselves off to hospital for treatment. As Cortesi confirmed, most stab wounds at the event were caused through knives or broken glass. Two Frenchmen were seriously injured in a knife attack on Utoquai in the early hours of Sunday morning but their condition is no longer life-threatening. Their assailants, a Swiss man and an Iranian national, both of whom also suffered stabbing wounds, were duly detained after they sought treatment at a nearby first aid post.

As many as 80 incidents of theft were reported at the Main Station, where victims had their mobile phones, wallets and striking necklaces stolen.

What was encouraging what that only 690 people sought treatment at the nine first aid stations at the event, down by one third on the previous year. Some of those seeking assistance were those needing treatment to their eyes after they had fallen victim to pepper-spray attacks, during which they were robbed. Police arrested 19 such assailants, ten of whom were subsequently charged.

Others needing treatment were some 280 suffering from accidental cut wounds and 255 from the effects of excessive consumption of drugs or alcohol. Of this latter group, 83 were taken to a centre for observation or drying out, including two young people under the age of 16.

The Zurich Cantonal Police also set up a major checkpoint on the A3 in the early hours of Sunday morning following the Street Parade.